Angela Bassett

Award-Winning Actress & Co-Founder of Bassett/Vance Productions

Amy DuBois Barnett

Chief Content Officer, theGrio.com & EVP Digital, Entertainment Studios

Vanessa "The Hebrew Mamita" Hidary

Actress / Performer / Writer / Director

Montel Williams

Emmy Award-Winning Talk Show Host; Multiple Sclerosis Survivor; Health Equity & Veteran Advocate

Manil Suri

Author, The Death of Vishnu

Iyanla Vanzant

New York Times Best-Selling Author, Spiritual Life Coach & Host of "Iyanla Fix My Life"

James McBride

New York Times Best-Selling Author & Musician

Erin Gruwell

Founder & Executive Director of the Freedom Writers Foundation; Education Reform Advocate

Nelson George

Author / Filmmaker

Julia Boyd

Acclaimed Author / Psychologist

Elizabeth Atkins

Best-Selling Author & Screenwriter

Robin Wright

Foreign Policy Analyst, Journalist & Author of "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World"

Terry McMillan

New York Times Best-Selling Author Known for "Waiting to Exhale" & "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"

Juan Williams

New York Times Best-Selling Author, Fox News Political Analyst, Co-Host of "The Five" & Award-Winning Columnist

Jytte Klausen

Expert on Islam, Author

Immaculée Ilibagiza

Author, "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust"

Tess Gerritsen

Best-Selling Author of the Rizzoli & Isles Series

Alice Walker

Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award-Winning Author; Best Known for "The Color Purple"

Dr. Ian Smith

Doctor, New York Times Bestselling Author, Medical Contributor & Host of "The Doctors"

Amanda Seales

Poet, Spoken Word Artist & Media Personality Known for HBO's "Insecure;" Anti-Smoking Activist

Alice Randall

Best-Selling Song Writer & Author

Mariane Pearl

Widow of Journalist Daniel Pearl

Angela E. Oh

Mediator, Conflict Resolution Consultant, Attorney & Civil Rights Activist

Asra Nomani

Journalist & Author, Women's Rights Activist

Gloria Naylor

Best-selling Author

Judith Light

Award Winning Actress & Activist

Tonya Lewis Lee

Author, Producer, Filmmaker & Entrepreneur; Women's Health Activist

Tonya Lewis Lee on the Black maternal mortality crisis

Dr. Bernice King

Minister, Attorney, Author & Daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Roya Hakakian

Iranian Poet, Journalist & Author

Nikki Giovanni

Poet, Educator & Best-Selling Author

‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ Review: An Afrofuturist Space Odyssey